Well I heard our fertilization report (or whatever they call it). 28 out of the 30 fertilized!! We'll hear more on Sunday. I think we're still planning on Tuesday for the et.

My belly is still really hurting; feels tight and cramping and sometimes an occasional sharp pain (which isn't uncommon anyway with the scar tissue I have in there). I'm feeling kinda bloated still and it's especially uncomfortable when I my bladder is even somewhat full. In fact the discomfort wakes me up in the middle of the night to empty my bladder at least once and then I still need to go again a few hours later. But I never 'go' like my bladder was more than half full. It feels sorta gassy too so Tylenol helps only somewhat.

Is this normal? Lisa, are you still having abdomenal discomfort from your er?

My belly was feeling at its fullest the end of the day after ER. The 1st and 2nd nights I probably got up 4-5 times to pee but it was a good "full" pee. My belly felt much better the morning of day 2 post ER, much more normal looking. I too was feeling somewhat gassy and was belching a lot. That has calmed down a lot, although still belching. I feel just a teeny bit tender if I stretch or press on my belly but nothing major. Had some cramps this morning when I first got up but they didn't last long.

Yes, I think what you're feeling is in the range of normal, especially given the number of eggs you had retrieved, but keep pushing your water and gatorade (or something with electrolytes) and salt and protein. That will help the fluid come down. And really take it easy, easier than you think you need to. I noticed that lying down helped my belly feel better. Also keep an eye on weight gain - they told me to call if I'd gained more than 3 pounds post ER.

We heard from embryology this morning for our Day 3 report - all 14 that fertilized, divided. Of those 7 are 6-8 cells and 7 are 4-5 cells, so we're definitely going on for a day 5 transfer. I asked if the 7 4-5 celled ones were a write off and the embryologist said no. Because my ER was so late in the day, it's possible that some or all of those could catch up this afternoon. One more hurdle down
Shawna - did they up your meds at all? I know that my clinic says you could be on stims anywhere from 9-15 days, so I wouldn't worry. There's still time for them to catch up.
Julia'sMom and Aly - glad to have a cheering section Aly, so sorry to hear about the loss of your twin

Lisa- I posted before I heard my plan. I do have other follies on both sides. They dropped my follistim to 75 to let the others catch up. I have a few main follicles that are pretty big. My estrogen level is very good. I will have another ultrasound and blood work on Monday morning.

I am happy that you are both recovering well and fertilisation was a success.

Yay Shawna - that sounds great! They did a similar thing with me (drop my meds) to let the others catch up. Then they had me coast (no meds other than lupron) because of my estrogen level. That's great your estrogen is doing good

so much excitement here! I wish all of you guys the best and am hoping to see many BFPs soon!

Thank you all for your advice about the yoga retreat. I am still not quite sure what to do... since it will be at the beginning of the stims I think I might not be feeling so bad. I wouldn't miss any monitoring. I feel like it would be fine, but logically I know that I have no idea what it will be like! Maybe I'll call the RE on Monday and ask what they think. And look for that article that Aly was talking about (do you have the reference?)

Aly, I'm so sorry about the loss of your twin. That must have been awful.

Thanks for the thoughts about our losing on of the babies, honestly it wasnt all that bad because, while I was REALLY upset, I still had one baby to focus on. We tried to stay positive because we didnt want my emotions to harm the other baby. Out motto was/is "I'm Still Pregnant" its hard to be upset when you keep saying that to yourself over and over again.

Biomama: I dont have a reference, but he gave us a photo copy right out of the magazine. I threw it away a while back, sorry!

*Aly* Proud ARMY Wife and SAHM to our IVF miracle London Michael 2/28/09 We are so in love! We beat infertility once, lets see if we can do it again. TTC #2!

We got our Day 3 report. Of the 28 eggs that fertilized, 19 of them were 8 cells, 6 of them were 6 cells and 3 were 4 cells.

She also said my discomfort wasn't in the concern range yet, and to keep poppin Tylenol. So it's good to know it's not a concern but crappy to know there is nothing I can do but wait it out. It's not even getting better yet.

Anyway we're still on for Tuesday at 1:30. I just hope I'm feeling better by then.

biomama: Food for thought, I think I felt worse on the Lupron/birth control than I did in the beginning of the stims (although I was more hormonal on the stims), then the last few days of the stims were the worst overall. Hope you can work it all out. Good luck!

OrganicSister - what great news! That's fabulous!! Sorry you're not feeling much better. I hope today brings you some relief

I'm so excited for our transfer today. I'm having acupuncture pre and post. Transfer is scheduled for about noon. It's funny, but the thing I'm most "nervous" about is having to pee in a bedpan after wards. Not that I care, it's just that I hope I'll be able to do it and not just lie there with a bladder ready to explode trying to pee. But other than that, I'm super excited!

I have missed a ton. We had my 9 year olds birthday and football all weekend. Plus I was feeling mild ohss symptoms.

My U/S went very well. I don't know how many follies I have( the tech was useless) but I do know that I have many 18,19,20's on the right and 18,19's on the left. I am hoping to trigger sometime soon. I feel very full and gassy, nausea and severe diarrhea. Mild loss of appetite. Plus weak and tired. I wasn't expecting that one..

Thanks for the thoughts about our losing on of the babies, honestly it wasnt all that bad because, while I was REALLY upset, I still had one baby to focus on. We tried to stay positive because we didnt want my emotions to harm the other baby. Out motto was/is "I'm Still Pregnant" its hard to be upset when you keep saying that to yourself over and over again.

Biomama: I dont have a reference, but he gave us a photo copy right out of the magazine. I threw it away a while back, sorry!

Aly- I'm sorry about the loss. I had no idea. I hope all is well. Take good care of yourself and the little one.

KJRSMR, wooooo!!! so exciting!! I hope you get many beautiful embryos this week.

OrganicSister, when are you transferring? how are you??

so it seems I am saved from my yoga dilemma. The timing of my IVF cycle was a bit off, not enough days of BCP, so now my target date has been moved back 5 days. So I won't yet be on stims for my yoga thing, just lupron (just!). So I will go. I also get one more cycle of TTC before the IVF begins (don't know if we'll try a 6th IUI or just natural, both seem equally pointless).

Lisa, how did it go, how are you feeling? My thoughts and prayers are with you!!

Shawna, YAY! How did it go? Feeling okay? Take it easy and keep us posted. Will you be doing a 3 or 5 day transfer?

Biomama, good to hear!

I go in this afternoon for the transfer (1:30 PST). Still seems surreal so I'm not nervous or excited or anything. My mom had to go out of town for a funeral so that kinda has me bummed. Ya never stop wanting your mama around for stuff like this! I'm finally starting to feel better though so that helps. A friend is coming by soon to drop off the first two books of the Twilight series, swearing I have to read them. lol So hopefully that will get me thru the bedrest. Guess it's all a waiting game from there.

Since I'm feeling better I'm going to try to pick up a bit around this disaster area this AM. No rest for the weary.

I'll introduce myself quickly first - DP & I have been ttc #1 since April 2007 and are starting on our first IVF cycle. I just finished BCPs and have been on lupron since 9/10. On Thursday, I go in for my supression check, and if all looks quiet with the ovaries, I'll start stimming on Friday. I've been enjoying reading about everyone's journeys here. Its encouraging to see such success with recent ERs - I keep having nightmares that after all of these drugs, they won't find any eggs!

Anyhow, my question is this: I've read on the internet (dangerous, I know) that diets high in protein can help develop strong eggs. Has anyone talked to their RE about what foods to eat during an IVF cycle? I'm a vegetarian, so if I should be getting a lot of protein, I need to pay closer attention than I normally do.

A little background on me: I'm Leah. DH & I have been TTC #2 since July '07. I've done 5 cycles of Clomid - 3 at 50 and 2 at 100. I overstimulated on 100 mg - I developed 6 18 mm+ follicles on both tries. We've attempted IUI 3 times (1 successful, but ended in miscarriage.) We've tried acupuncture, chiropractic, herbs, PreSeed, progesterone support...you name it. My HSG was totally normal, no blockages, polyps, or adhesions. DH's SA was phenomenal - above average counts, motility, and morphology. Bloodwork has come back normal. We are a mystery to my RE.

Anyway, we made the decision this morning to go ahead with IVF for my October cycle. We are going to try one more au naturale cycle before the real fun begins. We have our 1A consult (what to expect from IVF) on Thursday and hopefully we'll get our protocol shortly thereafter.

All went well. Out of the 8 follicles 6 had eggs in them. So now we wait and see.
DH was a champ and had a sample in about 3 minutes. I feel sore but okay. Very crampy.. They gave me vicodin. That is so strong..

Lisa and Organicsister : for the transfers. I can't wait to hear all about it.. 3 day transfer for us. Back on Saturday morning..

Shawna, I'm so excited! I felt pretty bad after my transfer but no vicoden for me. Hope you're feeling good and taking it easy!

LiamsMommmy: Good luck!!!

Abeecharmer: My doctor really pushed high sodium but never mentioned much about protein (just a balanced diet). But I've been craving protein like a madwoman (I usually only eat fish but haven't been able to get enough protein on my regular diet). I'm not sure if it was a hormonal thing with me or what but your body may tell you exactly what it needs. Has your RE mentioned anything to you about diet yet? The concerns may be different for different situations. I know my RE wanted me bloated because I'm pretty skinny and she wanted extra fluid around my ovaries - like padding. lol

As for my report: We transferred one yesterday and I've been laying around, reading and sleeping since then. I'm not sure if it's pyscho-somatic but I feel a lot better (although I was **horribly** bloated yesterday - I couldn't push my stomach out further than it already was!). I'm not as bloated today, I seem to be less constipated, and my ovaries feel better (until I try to walk around). I'm on bedrest thru tomorrow and we go in for a blood test next Friday the 26th. I still don't think it's hit me, but my hubby is as excited as a puppy and was fighting back tears thru the transfer. I just keep having this irrational fear that it will somehow fall out. lol Otherwise I think I'm trying not to get too excited until I know for sure, kwim?

Hey girls, sorry I've been MIA. We arrived home tonight. That is a looong drive but I'm still glad we drove vs. flew. It is so good to be home.

First off - congratulations Tara on your transfer and Shawna on your ER!! :: I'm glad you're feeling better Tara. Not to be all mother hen on you, but keep doing your sodium and protein. Sometimes when pregnancy hormones kick in they can trigger late stage OHSS if you're at risk, so keep up with your preventive measures
Shawna how are you feeling? I hope your cramps have eased up. Kudos to your dh

Now for me - Monday we went in for the transfer. I had acupuncture pre and post - they have someone on site if you request it which is nice. I had my pre transfer valium (first time ever for valium, kind of a fun buzz). The embryologist came in and gave us the update. We only had 1 at the blastocyst stage. The other 7 were still in the morula stage (pre-blastocyst). The embryologist had prepped 2 of the morulas for transfer in case we opted to transfer 3 (he did assisted hatching with those).

We talked with the doc about transferring 3 (1 blast and 2 morulas) and while he's the more conservative doc in the group he encouraged us to do all 3. Our odds of triplets are only 5% and odds of twins are 30%. I feel pretty comfortable with those odds although dh is freaked out about triplets (I would be too, but in my gut I feel pretty calm that we won't have to worry about it - knock on wood). The transfer was a piece of cake. We were able to see them before the transfer - they had a screen that projected the microscope so even I got to see them which was pretty cool.

The tricky thing was not knowing if we were going to have anything to freeze or not before we did the transfer. If we knew we had 5 that would be frozen I think I would've been more inclined to just do 2, but not knowing if we would have any made it a little trickier. It was entirely possible that some or all of them would arrest at the morula stage. It's impossible to predict unfortunately.

They let the remaining 5 percolate another day to see if they made it to blasts or not. We found out yesterday that they all made it and that is a huge relief. Of course now dh is extra freaked out thinking that the 2 morulas they transferred have also made it to blast stage and now we're destined for triplets. Poor guy.

We stayed with my brother and his wife last night. They have a 6 month old that is adorable but not the greatest sleeper and they are both exhausted. They were having a great time making triplet and twin jokes.

So now the wait begins. I was on bed rest the rest of transfer day and the day after. We started driving back that day (Tuesday). I figured I could ride in a car with the seat reclined and my feet up just as well as sitting on a couch. Beta is next Weds. the 24th. If it's positive we have another one the 26th to see if it's doubled like it's supposed to. If it has we have an ultrasound 2 weeks from next Weds. to see how many stuck and how it looks. Tara, it does feel rather surreal. I can't believe how quickly the whole IVF process went in retrospect. It seemed like such a HUGE deal when we were going into it and now it seems like a blip on the screen.

LiamsMom - good luck with this cycle. More than one woman has gotten pregnant the cycle before their IVF, so you never know

abeecharmer - I never talked with my RE about foods to eat. Quite frankly I think most "traditional" docs are pretty useless when it comes to nutritional advice. I've gotten a lot of good info from my acupuncturist. I eat a pretty good diet with good protein anyway, so I don't remember us talking about this. One of the things with protein is that it helps regulate your blood sugar which can impact hormones and I would guess egg quality potentially. I have read that increased levels of protein (80g per day) can help prevent ovarian hyperstimmulation (OHSS) and when pregnant pre-eclampsia. Good luck with your suppression check tomorrow!

biomama - glad the yoga dilemma has resolved. Hang in there, I had to wait out a couple months but in retrospect the time went really quickly.

Yay Shawna what fabulous news about the 5 :: I'm so glad your cramps are getting better, that doesn't sound like fun.

As for not getting to see your blasts ahead of time - just imagine a circle with with lines inside it dividing it into several loosely circularly shaped sections

As for POAS ahead of time - if I do it the earliest I'd do it would be the day before our scheduled beta. Until then, I'm staying far away from those things. I've heard too many people test early and get a negative only to find out a couple days later that they're pregnant. I definitely do not need those mind games. How about you?

Yay Shawna! : I feel for ya with the cramps, so happy they are lessening.

Lisa I'm glad to hear it went well! Poor hubby though. I know my hubby is starting to have a reality check as he looks at our dwindled savings and starts looking ahead (even though he wasn't hoping for 2 eggs). Do you think that is part of why 3 worries your DH?

I'm trying real hard to get enough sodium. The protein is a lot easier. I'm feeling better; still feeling my ovaries but not badly. Woke up with really tender boobs this morning. Isn't it too early for tender boobs? Could that be from the semi-hyperstim?

I have a long history of hating pee sticks; too many false hopes over the years. So I'm waiting for the blood test at the doctors office. Hard to be patient but better than being disappointed.

I'm tired of laying around, would really love to get some laundry done, but even though today is suppose to be my last day of bedrest, I have a feeling it may last a bit longer since I'm still so tender when I walk, and...well I'm just a bit paranoid. As much as I want to get up and move, I know that if this transfer doesn't take, I'll be looking at everything I did that may have hurt our odds, kwim? So I think I'm gonna continue to take it easy til my ovaries aren't so tender.

LisaG - thanks for the info re: diet. no, i havent asked my RE. i always have a ton of questions for him, and i never quite make it to that one. hope youre enjoying your bedrest now that you are feeling a little better!

Lisa - i have the same skepticism about traditional docs. i was thinking of seeing an accupuncturist too, but once i got the box of drugs & needles, i decided i didn't need any additional needle sticks this month! fx for you next weds!

AFM, suppression check went well this morning. will start gonal-f tomorrow night. im excited to get started!

I am going to wait for the beta. I agree Lisa the heartache and mind games are unbearable. The embies are doing well today. Looks like we are still on for a 3 day transfer. I agree Organicsister, I am still on bed rest from the et. I am looking at the laundry, dishes. UGH!! I am going to recover tomorrow at my mothers. AHHH peace and quiet. Not to mention she is a great cook.

I woke up at 7:00 am with the worst pain in my ovaries. I made a heat pad and took some tylenol. I seem to be better now. I almost called dh to come home. It was scary for a little while..

Abeecharmer- Thanks for the support!! I hope you have a smooth cycle. Glad the baseline went well

Tara - yes, I am "cautiously optimistic" Friends are asking me "well, do you FEEL pregnant???" If had a kid for every time I swore I was pregnant because I felt pregnant, I'd have at least 5 or 6 by now I'm doing my best to just breathe and hang out with the not knowing. I tell myself I'm learning to make friends with the not knowing. Because even if I am pregnant, there's plenty of not knowing still ahead, so I might as well get comfortable

Oh, and tender boobs could be from the progesterone supplements and the overall hormonal cocktail that we've all been on. Mine are tender too.

Shawna - good luck tomorrow! I'll be thinking of you. Glad you get to recover at your moms. I admit I wish my mom lived closer because while dh certainly makes an effort he requires a lot of direction and having mom whip up something good and healthy would've been quite nice.

Yay Shawna! I've been thinking about you, wondering how it went. Sorry to hear the others didn't make it. : Sending you some baby vibes!

I was having horrible pains in my ovaries with a few cramps around day 2 or 3 as well. Felt like my ovaries were popping! I've been pretty good since then though. Hopefully it means good things for both of us.

I had a friend say she thought I just exuded pregnancy, that I just smelled pregnant. I didn't want to tell her I may have forgotten my deoderant that morning.

I don't feel anything though. No excitement, no nerves, no worry. Just like it's some random week and I'm just waiting for a routine doctors appt. I think maybe I'm just being extra guarded.

One thing is for sure. Time has slowed the hell down! I can't remember a day that has gone as slow as this past week has gone. I feel like the Jeopardy song has been playing in my head since Tuesday.

I had a friend say she thought I just exuded pregnancy, that I just smelled pregnant. I didn't want to tell her I may have forgotten my deoderant that morning.

I had to share this with my SIL who was just in for a massage. Thanks for the laugh! And yay for looking pregnant!

Shawna - sorry to hear about your cramps, but hopefully it means good things :

Symptoms here are primarily anxiety. If that's a "symptom" My "zen like state" is becoming more and more difficult to attain the closer Wednesday gets. Sigh. Other symptoms include slightly sore boobs, although that could be attributed to the progesterone shots, fullish uterus feeling but different than pre-period (I think) and some occasional weird sensations near my belly button scar and lap scar. That's one I'm pretty sure I can say I've never felt before. My last 2 pregnancies I noticed weird stretching/pulling sensations along my myomectomy scar (it's the same as a c/s scar), but I'm not noticing that at all. So who knows. It seems like for every possible symptom I have there's something that I don't have that I had before. In short, I know nothing

hi all - a quick question for those of you that have been through the stims already -- i've been on 225 units of gonal-f & 5 units of lupron since Friday. this morning, i went in for bloodwork & just got the call from the IVF nurse. she said to lower my gonal-f to 150 units, add 75 units of menopur (1 vial), and continue 5 units of lupron.

i was surprised to hear my gonal-f is being lowered so soon. is this normal??